Sweet Silly Sara

D is for Donut Coloring Page

Harper has been having so much fun with the alphabet themed coloring sheets that I have been making for her! These have been a great way to tie in letter recognition, coloring and creative expression in one cute and FREE printable page.

This week we are working on the letter D.

We made a funtastic donut craft last spring which we will revisit.

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We are recommending the book If You Give a Dog a Donut.

You can print the free coloring page by clicking the link below. Feel free to print one, or as many as you need. You can find our paper plate donut craft here.

D is for Donut Coloring Page Printable

Carrot Soup

Carrot soup is a decadent way to eat more veggies and warm yourself up on a cold winter day! Made with simple ingredients this recipe comes together in moments for a filling dinner the whole family will love. Pair with crusty bread or a salad for a meatless meal that hits the spot!

This soup couldn't be easier to make. It is perfect for cooking a yummy soup for lunch or dinner on a budget and is a great way to get the family to eat more veggies. I love that this recipe freezes well for enjoying the leftovers on a later day.
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Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 cups of chopped carrots
2 cups of water
4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup of half and half
Pinch of salt and pepper
Fresh parsley or thyme

optional: 1 chopped stalk of celery

Directions:

Combine butter and oil in a large pot.
Over medium heat, melt the butter then add the onions and celery if you are using any. Add your parsley or thyme and cook until veggies are soft.
Add carrots, water and broth. Bring to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes, stirring frequently.
When the carrots are tender, transfer the soup to a blender, this might take 3 blender batches to complete. Blend until the soup is smooth.
When the soup has all been blended stir in salt and pepper and half and half.
Garnish with fresh thyme or parsley.
Serve and enjoy.

This soup keeps for about 3 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.
This recipe will serve 8-10.
I like to eat this with croutons for a delicious change!

Have you ever made carrot soup? I would love to hear about your favorite soup recipe!

You might also like this Calcutta Aubergine Recipe.

Save Your Way To Family Fun

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Family time is precious and irreplaceable – you can’t put a price on it. Or can you? Priceless as the
memories may be, the cost of a family day out rises and rises each year. With travel, entry tickets,
overpriced food and drink and the unavoidable stop at the gift shop on the way out, take a few days
out in a year and you can find the cost slowly mounting. And for those families who are struggling to
meet savings goals or working through debt consolidation programs, every penny counts.
But there are ways to both cut the cost of your outing and find something fun for the family to
do together.

It’s All About Timing

Many theme parks and family attractions like zoos and the theatre practice ‘dynamic pricing’.
This means that the cost of entry will vary across a year and even a week, rising when there’s peak
demand and dropping right down when they need to fill seats. So do a little detective work
and use this to your advantage. Monitor the prices over a set period of time to see how they alter,
and make sure you’re signed up to the newsletter of the attraction, as many will email out discount
codes and special deals. It may mean waiting a little longer to get there, but you can make major
savings.

Round Up The Gang

A lot of attractions will also offer a discount for group bookings, so make sure you call up and speak
to them about what can be done. Who could you invite to go with you? Children will love for their
friends or neighbors to come along, and if you pool money, hiring a small minibus may be a more
cost-effective way to travel there as well. So time your trip with another family or two and see how
much you can save.

Claim Your Cashback

Using cashback sites and loyalty cards are a great idea if you know you’re planning to go somewhere.
Lots of them offer access to family attraction or ticketing sites. If you’ve saved up loyalty card points
all year, see what you can swap them in for, and use supermarket cards to purchase discounted
snacks and food for the road trip.

Keep The Snacks DIY

Overpriced food and drink at family attractions are one of the main budget-busters on a day out,
especially if you have several little ones. So save big by packing a cool bag with treats and drinks
before you go. Make the food prep a part of the excitement of the day out. Kids love a picnic, and
if you think outside the box and make some exciting picnic food rather than the standard sandwiches,
they’ll be super excited.

Days out are all about making memories – and you don’t have to spend a fortune to do that.
There are also lots of fun things to do at home from going on a bug safari to building a pillow fort,
having kids produce their own movie or play or even doing a campout in the backyard underneath
the stars. The only limit is your imagination.

6 Snowman Themed Painting Projects for Kids

We didn't get enough snow to make snowmen last year. We waited with crossed fingers until April rolled around, then we gave up, defeated and longing for a day spent rolling big balls of snow around.

This year, if we don't have ample snow in our own backyard for winter fun, we are at least prepared to craft up some snowman fun! I found 6 Snowman Themed Painting Projects for Kids to keep in my reserve of winter fun and I think you are going to like these ideas too!

Handprint Snowman Preschool Craft
Bubble Wrap Snowman Painting
Snowman Winter Art Project
Snowman Sensory Art with Puffy Paint
Footprint Snowman Craft
Easy Puffy Paint Snowman Project

These ideas are simple enough for small children and creative enough to offer your older kids a chance to create and explore new materials. Which is a win/win! My favorite art supply to introduce to children is Kwik Stix, tempura paint sticks. You can get these through my affiliate link.

Hopefully, we will get the best of both worlds this winter; a chance to whoop it up in the snow and make a ton of snowmen, then come in and warm up with a painting project or two!

If you have a favorite snowman painting project for kids, please leave a comment to share it with us!

You might also like this Paper Cookie Preschool Craft.

Paper Fortune Cookies for New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is just a few days away! To make the evening extra fun for the kids, I have been making these cute paper fortune cookies so they can open one on the hour and have fun reading their fortunes to each other!

This is such an easy craft idea!! It can be used for parties, holidays or even as place markers at a dinner party!

All you need is scrapbooking paper
Glue
Scissors
Paper and a Pen

To begin, cut several uniform circles from paper.